Biogeochemical consequences of a changing Arctic shelf seafloor ecosystem

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  • Christian Marz
    University of Leeds
  • Felipe Freitas
    University of Bristol
  • Johan Faust
    University of Leeds
  • Jasmin Godbold
    University of Southampton
  • Sian Henley
    University of Edinburgh
  • Allyson Tessin
    Kent State University
  • Sandra Arndt
    Université Libre de Bruxelles
  • David Barnes
    British Antarctic Survey
  • Laura Grange
  • Neil Gray
    Newcastle University
  • Ian Head
    Newcastle University
  • Katharine Hendry
    University of Bristol
  • Robert Hilton
    Durham University
  • Adam Reed
    University of Southampton
  • Saskia Rhul
    Helmholtz Zentrum Hereon
  • Martin Solan
    University of Southampton
  • Terri Souster
    University of Tromsø
  • Mark Stevenson
    Durham University
  • Karen Tait
    Plymouth Marine Laboratory
  • Stephen Widdicombe
    Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Unprecedented and dramatic transformations are occurring in the Arctic in response to climate change, but academic, public, and political discourse has disproportionately focussed on the most visible and direct aspects of change, including sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, the fate of charismatic megafauna, and the expansion of fisheries. Such narratives disregard the importance of less visible and indirect processes and, in particular, miss the substantive contribution of the shelf seafloor in regulating nutrients and sequestering carbon. Here, we summarise the biogeochemical functioning of the Arctic shelf seafloor before considering how climate change and regional adjustments to human activities may alter its biogeochemical and ecological dynamics, including ecosystem function, carbon burial, or nutrient recycling. We highlight the importance of the Arctic benthic system in mitigating climatic and anthropogenic change and, with a focus on the Barents Sea, offer some observations and our perspectives on future management and policy.

Keywords

  • Arctic Ocean, Biogeochemistry, Carbon, Ecology, Nutrients, trawling
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)370–382
Number of pages13
JournalAMBIO
Volume51
Issue number2
Early online date9 Oct 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2022

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